Culture

Barcelona culture is an intersection of different civilizations and influences, making it a fascinating and captivating city. Abundant with museums, art galleries, festivals, and buildings of interest, featuring superb examples of Modernist, they all come together to create one of the most rich cultures of the world.

Barcelona cultural activities:

Barcelona Museums:

Barcelona houses a great number of museums among them, museums dedicated to Picasso, Miro, Tapies and Dali.

The Museum of the History of Catalonia: It tells the story of the city up to the Middle Ages and includes a visit to the Roman ruins. It also comprises many archaeological sites in Catalonia.

The Museum Monastery of Pedralbes: It’s one of the most beautiful buildings of the Catalan Gothic in Barcelona and the best examples of Catalan Gothic architecture. Religious art works from the 14th to the 20th century are displayed in the monastery museum.

The National Museum of Art of Catalonia: It offers unique experience through masterpieces of 10th and 20th centuries. It exhibits wall-paintings from Romanesque churches, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and items from Renaissance and Baroque art.

Barcelona art galleries:

The city is famous for being the home of many endowed artists such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies and Joan Hernández Pijoan. It offers a great number of sculptures, paintings, mosaics, displayed in its most visited art galleries.

The Museu Picasso is the most frequented art gallery in Barcelona and attracts over 1,000,000 visitors each year. This gallery holds one of the World’s largest collection of Picasso’s artwork.

Fundació Joan Miró is one of the most outstanding art galleries to visit. The building itself is a remarkable masterpiece. It displays thousands of drawings, hundreds of paintings and many sculptures.

We can’t forget to mention the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC). It gives an important cultural value to Barcelona by being the most complete Romanesque art museum in the world.

Barcelona musical events:

Barcelona culture is very related to music and dance. The city holds annually shows of excellent artists in music and dance. A large number of music festivals are organized including the Festival Del Grec, the Festival de Jazz de Barcelona and la Festa De La Musica.

Visiting Barcelona during May and June? Don’t miss the international Sónar Music Festivalas well as the Primavera Sound Festival.

Sónar is an electronic music festival split into three days with two main events on each day whereas Primavera Sound is the biggest guitar rock, indie and alternative music event in the world. This festival is held in Parc del Fòrum and attended by about 190 000 music lover in 2015.

For classical music fans, Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphonic Orchestra (OBC) is a large symphonic orchestra in Catalonia organizing around 75 concerts per season.

It’s also common to hear music played while taking a tour in the city. Street performers are widespread and a large number of restaurants present show from traditional Catalan music to more modern genres such as rock and pop.

Barcelona Cultural Events:

Barcelona organizes every year original festivals with different themes. Major events are:

The festival of love and culture, on 23 April, symbolized by the rose and book. The entire city offers books and roses to their beloved ones.

The Festival of Castell de Peralada:If you’re a classical music lover this festival is made just for you.

The Diada on September 11th is the best opportunity to get on over view on Catalan culture.

You can have a wonderful time atBarcelona Carnival during February and admire the masked balls, traditional dances and creative costumes.

Barcelona Architecture:

Barcelona’s sophisticated buildings attract architects from the entire globe to get inspiration. Great part of them are World Heritage Sites such as the outstanding but still unfinished church of the Sagrada Família (Holy Family), the Palau Güell and the Casa Batlló.

The city boasts other remarkable wonders of famousLluís Domènech i Montaner, who designed the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Hospital de Sant Pau and the Casa Lleó Morera.

Graceful churches, unusual structures, creative buildings, this city wins the heart of every visitor.

Language:

Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both official languages and widely spoken by inhabitants. It’s easy to find people speaking english especially in touristic areas.

Etiquettes and general manners:

Greeting:

The common way of greeting is to shake everyone’s hands women, men and children.

You can say “hola” for hello and “hasta luego” for goodbye.

Women can kiss each other on the cheek.

Try to use « usted » when talking to older people.

It is common to hear Spaniards greet each other as guapo/guapa, which mean lovely/handsome.

Clothing:

Looking elegant is extremely important everywhere and at any occasion.

The shoes are the most important part of the dress and reflect the personality.

Women should wear dresses and skirts in formal occasions.

When visiting someone:

To be polite, bring a small gift. Flowers and candies are convenient.

Greet everyone than wait for the host to show your seat.

Do not begin eating until the host says “Buen apetito!”

Dinner:

Do not switch your knives or forks with anyone. Spaniards never do that.

The fork and spoon above your plate are for dessert.

When the meal is finished, place the knife and fork parallel to each other across the right side of the plate.